A UK court has limited authorities’ access to digital data that was seized from the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, except in the case of national security purposes.
David Miranda was detained and questioned for nearly nine hours Sunday as he transited through Heathrow airport in London on his way back to his home in Rio de Janeiro. Officials had confiscated several pieces of Miranda’s electronics equipment, under a provision of a UK terrorism law.
Attorneys for Miranda sued to prevent authorities from “inspecting, copying or sharing” any of the material from the items confiscated during Miranda’s detention.
The court issued a limited injunction on Thursday, placing some restrictions on how the materials can be used.
From The Guardian:
David Miranda has been granted a limited injunction at the high court to stop the government and police “inspecting, copying or sharing” data seized from him during his detention at Heathrow airport – but examination by the police for national security purposes is allowed.
Miranda had taken the government to court to try and get the data returned, but judges ruled that the police would be able to make limited use of what had been taken during his nine-hour detention on Sunday. He is the partner of Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian reporter who has exposed mass digital surveillance by US and UK spy agencies.
The court ruled the authorities must not inspect the data nor distribute it domestically or to any foreign government or agency unless it is for the purpose of ensuring the protection national security or for investigating whether Miranda is himself involved in the commission, instigation or preparation of an act of terrorism.
Gwendolen Morgan, an attorney for Miranda, elaborated further on the court’s ruling.
From Ars Technica:
“The court accepted today that in order for the home office and police to look at that material, there has to be a genuine threat to national security,” Gwendolen Morgan, Miranda’s lawyer, said. “The home office and police now have seven days to prove that there is a genuine threat to national security rather than make mere assertions as they have done today.”
She added that Miranda would have his items returned as of “midnight on Saturday.”
“We therefore consider this to be a partial victory and we hope to have the court’s full reasoning tomorrow afternoon,” she said.
Reading from an official court document, Morgan said that the Home Office and British police were not to “inspect, copy, disclose, transfer, [or] distribute [the data], whether domestically or to any foreign government or agency,” but that included an exception in the name of “national security.”
Authorities indicated that an initial examination has identified sensitive material on the items seized from Miranda, according to Ars Technica.
Jonathan Laidlaw, an attorney representing the Metropolitan police, described the data to the court as “highly sensitive material the disclosure of which would be gravely injurious to public safety.”
There were “tens of thousands” of pages of digital material, Laidlaw added.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard declined to comment any further, saying, “This [criminal] investigation is at an early stage and we are not prepared to discuss it in any further detail at this stage.”
Information on the activities of a British internet-monitoring station in the Middle East is said to have been contained in the leaked NSA documents from Edward Snowden, an issue that could be driving some of Britain’s security concerns, according to The Independent.
But there are fears in Government that Mr Greenwald – who still has access to the files – could attempt to release damaging information.
He said after the arrest of Mr Miranda: “I will be far more aggressive in my reporting from now. I am going to publish many more documents. I have many more documents on England’s spy system. I think they will be sorry for what they did.”
One of the areas of concern in Whitehall is that details of the Middle East spying base which could identify its location could enter the public domain.
Greenwald made those statements earlier this week when speaking to reporters just after his partner’s detention. Such statements are an issue that has even some privacy advocates concerned.
Miranda was returning home after visiting with Greenwald’s colleague Laura Poitras in Berlin when he was detained. Poitras is the US filmmaker who produced the video interview that unmasked Edward Snowden to the world as the source of the NSA surveillance program leaks. She has been described as the ‘mastermind’ behind the Snowden disclosures. Poitras also previously revealed many of the same claims as Snowden’s in an interview she filmed with Bill Binney, and she produced the 2010 documentary “The Oath,” which featured two men who worked for Osama bin Laden.
On Monday, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger revealed that, weeks ago, security experts with the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) oversaw the destruction of hard drives containing documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
First of all Laura Poitras, the gal David Miranda visited in Berlin, is a documentarian, who has done films about Iraq. (Starting in 2004.) She’s working on the last of her trilogy. And, yes. She’s the one Ed Snowden contacted, because Glenn Greenwald is NOT encryption savvy. Poitras, however, has become very, very encryption savvy.
Since 2004, Poitras has been subjected to HUNDREDS of “frisk” and stops at airports around the world. (She travels a lot in her documentarian work.) And, even though she came close to winning an Oscar last year … Her film came in 2nd. She wasn’t known.
Now, she is. Because she traveled with Greenwald to Hong Kong. Where she shot the film of Ed Snowden. (Hong Kong is actually a safe “free speech zone.”) So, too, is Berlin, Germany.
What was David Miranda carrying? (Not Ed Snowden’s secrets! Glenn Greenwald already has those files. And, among the safety precautions Poitras learned to use, is to keep copies of her works in progress, in safety deposit boxes.
My guess is that Miranda was carrying a heavily encrypted file of her latest work which still has not been released. BUT IT WILL BE. And, it will meet, this time, a WORLD WIDE audience.
We’ve already learned that David Cameron is NOT computer savvy. Or he wouldn’t have sent government goons to the Guardian’s offices, to use PRIOR RESTRAINT on them NOT to publish material. So Cameron was satisified when the hard drives were “destroyed” in the Guardian’s basement.
HELLO. Glenn Greenwald has already been brought up to speed in the encryptioning of material. And, now the world also knows that Heathrow is not a good place to “transit” … if you’re traveling between other points. (Like from Berlin. To Rio.)
And, that 5:30 AM phone call to Greenwald. Was probably done on Miranda’s cell phone. (Which had the phone numbers that are now probably useless. Because, HELLO. You change your phone number!)
For Greenwald the story went viral. For David Cameron? He’s too stupid to have egg on his face. He thinks he’s the prime minister, ya know. So he can be lawless. (Until the “egg on the face” moment arrives.)
NOTHING in the 9 hours of questioning Miranda gave the “spooks” in England all that much information. (Unless you consider it vitally important to know when a homosexual kid became active. And, how he met his “husband.” Since Miranda is the “wife.”) WASN’T WORTH IT!
Stupid is as stupid does.
A “transit point” is now something lots of travelers are considering.
Sure, with David’s laptop now still being kept by authorities … They can’t retrieve “stuff” without actually using brute force. Will the various electronics ever be returned to their owner? Who knows?
But it’s interesting that at the end … while Miranda’s plane to Rio was waiting … The British goons tried to keep his passport. So David started to scream and yell in the airport lounge. And, the passport was returned. As the goons put the front page up for the world to see. (How “heroic.”)
Do tell. Because there’s more to the story. And, then, they’re also be book rights.
It’s only a threat to National Security, if you consider being tossed out of office a “threat to national security”.
You know for all the people’s squealing about National Security being compromised, can anyone point out exactly how National Security has been threatened. I mean a specific disclosure that has come to light. All I have seen is some threat to the “Political Security” of certain politicians, but no threats to the people of America or UK
Jesse Ventura will answer this. He has a Conspiracy Theory. Google for it.
Then be aware of FIVE EYES: USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. There are secrecy laws. Rules for PRIOR RESTRAINT of the press.
Journalism is not terrorism! Never was. And, never will be.
If we’re lucky? The PM, in England (David Cameron), has just picked a fight with Glenn Greenwald. Who is safe in Brazil. And, Laura Poitras. Someone you never heard of before yesterday.
Oh, in the future. When Laura and Glenn want to talk, they’ll be sure their calls aren’t routed through FIVE EYES.
What pieces are being held back? The Mideast! And, what FIVE EYES have been up to. Under the radar? Sure, for now. But for how long more?
NSA, is no long “No Such Agency.”
Look at the timeline. The “stuff” is being returned at Midnight Saturday. Seems some PR maven doesn’t want this “stuff” discussed in Sunday’s newspapers.
You can’t stretch journalism into terrorism.
And the Gov speaks thusly –
Your Honour – our investigation “… is for the purpose of ensuring the protection national security or for investigating whether Miranda is himself involved in the commission, instigation or preparation of an act of terrorism” and also “….there is a genuine threat to national security”
Next question ?
I know this is off-topic and this isn’t the right place to post this, but it is important information for people arguing about the Photo ID and Early Voting stuff, particularly in North Carolina.
On another website I have been debating people who say Jim Crowism is back, and one reason is that No.Carolina has cut back on early voting. It still has early voting, just not as much. Anyway, I just discovered something that may be old news here, but to be on the safe side, here are a few of the states that don’t have early voting at all, and a link with a map and charts for all states:
New York,
Massachusetts,
Connecticut,
Delaware
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Minnesota
Michigan
etc.
Sooo, if a Republican state cuts back on early voting by a few days, that makes them mean, old racist Jim Crow-y states, where if a Democratic state doesn’t even have early voting at all, then that is just AOK???
http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/elections/absentee-and-early-voting.aspx
I hope this helps people, and if it is “old news”, then I apologize for wasting your time.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
PS: Plus, Rhode Island passed a Photo ID law.